The nosh War | Imamother

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The nosh War

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mammala120

Sun, Dec 30 2007, 2:30 pm

Before my daughter started prenursery I never allowed her to eat things like potatoe chips and bissli and colored candy, except on occassion like once in two weeks or on long holidays or long trips to keep her calm. now that she started prenursery she asks me for such nosh dialy. every day she wants to take a bag of chips/bissli...candy...to school for snack. the school/playgroup acctually encourages eating all that by offering such things on fridays for shabbos party.

my conscern starts when she complains of stomach pains almost every day on schoold days and when she refuses to eat regular meals at home like supper after school stating that she wants chips instead.

I was wondering what other moms think about such noshes. I think of them as unhealthy junk food full of salt, fake flavors, colors that are not healthy. would you advise me to communicate this to her moras. do you immos give your children chips snacks everyday?

please advise me on how to properly raise my kids when it comes to noshes.

and sorry for my spelling.

chocolate moose

Sun, Dec 30 2007, 2:32 pm

You need to enlist the school to a no nosh policy !!!

sarahd

Sun, Dec 30 2007, 2:44 pm

I am encountering a similar problem, except that it's not my son asking for nosh; it's him bringing home pekelach full of disgusting junk every few days from someone's birthday party. It started on Simchas Torah (before then my son had never had a taffy, lolly, sucking candy, fruit rollup, aspirin candy (or whatever they're called) or any of that sort of stuff in his life.) Since then, there hasn't been a day without nosh and by now he thinks it's his G-d-given right to have nosh at least once a day. Puke

How to get him to give up those bags? I have to figure it out soon, because next year he's going to cheder, where they have upsherins every couple of days, along with more nosh.

amother

Sun, Dec 30 2007, 3:30 pm

I also have that problem. For the past 2 weeks we have been unable to understand why ds cant sit still and is so fidgety at home. In his old school they only had shabbos party that was limited in nosh and birthdays where most of the parents were nice enough not to make the party bags too junky. I asked him on shabbos "do you get any snacks in school to eat"? He told me "yes, rebbe gives us 2 candies everyday and one morah gives us 3 candies each on thursday (the same one who gives prizes for bringing healthy snack) and we have shabbos party on Friday (oy! you should see what comes home! blue licorice, chips, cookies, candies - more than you'd want for a whole week) shock

What to do?! I told him he can save it and trade it with me for nickels. Then he came up with an idea we'll save all the candy in a ziploc and when its his turn to be shabbos host - he'll bring the bag to school Idea

I love my frugal child Exclamation

sarahd

Sun, Dec 30 2007, 4:17 pm

amother wrote:

one morah gives us 3 candies each on thursday (the same one who gives prizes for bringing healthy snack)

See, that's another thing I don't understand. In his kindergarten the parents are not allowed to send any nosh for snacktime - only sandwiches, fruits and vegetables (maybe pretzels or rice cakes) - and even at the Shabbos party they aren't served nosh, only challah and grape juice. And then the teacher also goes and gives them candy sometimes. Rolling Eyes

Although at least not every week.

gryp

Mon, Dec 31 2007, 12:28 pm

Here's what I do. It might be a little easier for me because I live in a place where I can buy healthier chips and candy, so I simply buy the healthier treats and tell my 4 yr old he can trade in his birthday bags when he gets home. A regular lollipop for a completely sugar/flavorings/coloring- free lollipop- and they taste just as good. A regular bag of chips for a healthier one. A regular cookie for a trans-fat-free, less sugary one.

I'm not at war. I don't freak out when he does eat the occasional candy or the birthday cupcake because I know he really doesn't have it that often.

I do hijack whatever's left in his birthday bags. I do not let him have an entire pack of winkies to gobble up, or any colored candy. If it's winkies, I let him choose two or three and we save the rest for Shabbos. If it's a taffy, I cut it in half, he eats one half, and the other half goes for Shabbos. He forgets by then anyway, so I end up dumping lots of old candy.

Shabbos party is my worst enemy but I'm not going to fight over it. They have Shabbos party around lunch time and then come home and are supposed to be hungry for lunch. Oh well.

In this day in age when mostly all classrooms accept kids with nut allergies, dairy allergies, soy allergies, etc, there's no reason not to tell the teacher that your child can't have sugar.

sarahd

Mon, Dec 31 2007, 5:27 pm

I would do that GR, if I lived in America. No way I can haul 6 months worth of nosh every time I come to America for a visit.

I never let ds eat his whole pekele at one time. He's allowed to have one nosh at a time, but no way in the world can I get rid of his stuff. He NEVER forgets about his nosh. He has EVERY PIECE catalogued in his mind. Iy"h his good memory will be put to good use learning Torah.

happymom

Mon, Dec 31 2007, 6:33 pm

I think its a problem with the school! why are they eating nosh intead of food? my daughters class also had nosh for shabbos party in shool but on all other days the kids are only allowed to bring fruit fo snack since htye give lunch and snack already in school. however, if all the kids bring nosh I would send ONE treat cuz otherwise the child can go nosh crazy from not being allowed to have any, which can lead to probles.

mammala120

Mon, Dec 31 2007, 7:58 pm

Well, for about 30 seconds today I decided to express my conscern to Morah stating that I was wondering if my child eats nosh like candies and chips daily in school. the morah stated that the only nosh she eats daily is the one we the parents send with the child otherwise the school does not give nosh except on shabbos parties. I can live with that. I will just start sending her to school with healthier snacks like popcorn, bamba, fruits.

imaamy

Mon, Dec 31 2007, 8:55 pm

We have been fighting this for years at our kids' school. In the lower grades they have the Shabbat party. Thankfully we are done with that now (kids are older). However, there are constant food rewards for good work/good behavior, sufganiyot/latkes recently, food for all other holidays, and donuts for fundraisers.

In the Kindergarten for Shabbat parties, we asked them to limit our DD to one serving of cookie or one cake or one candy instead of unlimited of each. Sometimes I came early to pickup so I could watch. Eventually she was pretty good at choosing by herself. She was the odd one out, and I hated making her feel different. However, she was heavy when she is younger and now she is a healthier weight. I feel the public schools are taking out the vending machines, limiting what kids can bring for treats, yet the private dishes it out nonstop. As you can tell it is one of my biggest peeves!

cdawnr

Mon, Dec 31 2007, 9:28 pm

im with you! as the oldest ds never had any of this stuff. now he goes to prenursery at the yeshiva and oy vey!

We are constantly getting noteshome that there is some party or activity and the kids should bring in something...it really bothers me.

mammala120--Bamba is a healthy snack??

raizy

Mon, Dec 31 2007, 10:00 pm

I will say it once and then I wont reply to anyone of u.

I think u are all very wacked out that u cant fargin your kids a bit of real old fashioned junk .... come one a bit of nash never killed anyone yet.

but I do hear of kids who come from nash or nosh as u say it homes . that when they go to friends houses and neighbors houses they beg for nosh.... I saw it with my own eyes. my neighbors niece was bye her and every minete she wanted a "good thing" I asked my neighbor why is this kid so farchallashed for nosh and she said because her mother doesnt let her have any....

and I heard of this sick mother who wouldnt let her kid eat even a piece of cake bye a birthday party because it has yikes sugar in it. ...

I just hope that all this kids will rebel one day and eat nosh and junk food to their heart content....

and to finish this thread I know that this is what happens ... my husband is a fine product of only having a "healthy home"

he cant get enough of jello. he just slurps it up everytime I make it. he said that when he grew up his mom said it was junk and never made it. now I have to make it at least 2 batches on friday bc he eats one batch all by himselve.wheras me who had nosh in my lifetime doesnt touch that stuff. too sugary for my taste.

happymom

Mon, Dec 31 2007, 10:10 pm

raizy im surprised at what u are saying. of course you shouldnt ban a child frome ver having nosh and it shouldnt be made into a huge deal because yes then a child will beg for nosh and thats not good. but its a very positive thing to try and have healthy options instead! yes there are people who have gotten sick from too much sugar and junk food. I have spoken to a womnan who survived cancer because of CUTTING OUT JUNK FOOD!! which a doctor told her to do (he treats cancer diff then reg docs by changing the diet and excersize, and toxic things in the home..

NotInNJMommy

Mon, Dec 31 2007, 10:19 pm

BH, ds loves salad and apples and dd loves peas...

I just wish I had that small of a sweet tooth....

red sea

Mon, Dec 31 2007, 10:26 pm

Raizy is making a valid point, if a child is too deprived in their eyes once they go to school, you just created a monster, but if a child has a balance it is better for the long run. But- I think the schools promote terrible health habits. They feed the children way too much and of the wrong stuff. My neice came home from her school chanukah party with a packet of nosh that was really shocking, I could not fathom they gave each child such a quantity and of such unhealthy snacks, you know the brightly colored sugar & chemical assortment, enough assorted cookies to feed the whole class, nevermind one child and more. Then the teachers complain (esp by the boys) that the kids dont sit still and behave. Maybe if they tried less caffeine and sugar before 11 AM they would help the situation.

sarahd

Tue, Jan 01 2008, 8:54 am

I am not a crusader against nosh. I don't get hysterical if ds has cookies, pretzels, popcorn or even potato chips. I can even live with a small amount of chocolate. But I do get upset when he's stuffed with sticky, sickly-sweet things that bathe his teeth in sugar and chemicals.

I grew up with very little nosh too. I love chocolate and find it hard to stay away from it. But I have no attraction at all to candies.

gryp

Tue, Jan 01 2008, 10:23 am

There is no need to take this to extremes. Do I accuse all mothers who give their kids nosh freely of giving them soda for breakfast? Have you never seen that IRL? Because I have, and it comes along with brown rotting teeth on a 5 year old.

I grew up in a house where I was allowed to eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. It leads to horrible habits, never mind the junk inside me. No way, not for my children, not on my stopwatch. And I aced every class in school, and never gained any weight.

It is a known fact that the Jewish schools give nosh and candy like water. It is a problem that we need to stop. It is the parents' responsibility to stand up for what's right for their own children and stop the craziness. NOBODY cares for our own children as much as we do.

There are boundaries to the word "balance," some people don't have any judgement at all and they might think they're balanced. Like the parents whose 7 year olds go to sleep after 10 PM every single night, or the parents who sends kids to school every day with sodacans, cupcakes, and gumballs in case they're hungry.

There is such thing as healthy foods that taste great, and such thing as healthy snacks and healthier nosh. There is no need to feed kids garbage.

Kids are little people growing and need proper nutrition FIRST. Kids should be eating foods rich in calcium, protein, iron, vitamins in fruits and vegetables, proper carbohydrates, etc, BEFORE being dumped with cookies and candy. Otherwise, the foods they need to help them grow will not get anywhere near their mouths to be able to get inside them.

Kids would be perfectly happy to have fruits, vegetables, and nuts for snack if we would just give it to them instead of throwing at them a package of cookies or chips. Yeah, it keeps them happy and quiet and it's convenient, which are all pluses for us as parents, and also makes them full, but full of WHAT?

There are also healthier nosh: air popped popcorn, corn pops (especially the "Lite"), bamba, some kinds of potato sticks, that I've come across in stores. Landau makes an entire variety of healthier snacks. There are kinds of healthy crackers that kids like, and a few (very few Confused

) kinds of cookies. There are candies made from only fruit-juice with extracts taken from purple cabbage and carrots for color.

Kids have a hard enough time concentrating in school nowadays. They are stuck in front of videos and computer games entranced by the flashing images before them. They're loaded up on cocoa and muffins aka cupcakes and sent off to school. And they get blamed and punished for not learning properly, or medicated and sedated.

Something's gotta give. The equation we've been using of videos plus junkfood does not equal children doing well.

You may think I'm wacked, raizy, but that's fine. I know I'm tuned in to children's NEEDS. And I do my best to parent that way, whether it happens every single time or not is a seperate issue, but at least I'm tuned in.

timeout

Tue, Jan 01 2008, 10:34 am

My son has habit of climbing walls when he has nosh so since Kindergarten I've been telling him he's allergic to sugar.

That worked till this year he's in first grade when every kid brings in something more sugary than the next, I had to compromise since he for sure cannot have this at school. Now he only has on Shabbos for Shabbos parties that I make and can handle him after.

BTW when I gave him no sugary snacks ever he used to trade with other kids at school which was much much worse.

Clarissa

Tue, Jan 01 2008, 10:59 am

Our school, because of allergy issues, forbids anybody to bring in anything from home not pre-approved by the school. Snacks are healthy, provided by either school or parents, who take turns. The lunches served in the cafeteria are really healthy, and good. The exception to this is class birthdays, when parents are permitted to send in donuts, or certain special holidays. Shabbat celebrations involve grape juice and challah, and that's it. I'm not anti-sugar (far from it, unfortunately) but I'd be upset if my kid was given candy at school. I'd be particularly upset if little kids were given hard candies, which are choking hazards.

Why my kid was little and the children brought in their lunches, there was a strict "no sharing or trading" policy, because of allergies.

If parents are unhappy about the amount of junk the kids are given, they should speak up about it and try to change school policy. It's very hard to establish good habits when the schools routinely ignore the issue.

mammala120

Tue, Jan 01 2008, 12:17 pm

GR wrote:

I totally agree with u Bounce

I am not in general agains nosh, however I am agains junk nosh. there are plenty of healthy alternatives like healthier nosh. at home I can certainly control what my kids eat, however in school it is very hard to control what kids are being served. the best solution for me is to teach my child to make healthier choices as she is growing. by limiting junk nosh at home I know I am teacher her healthy habbits. I don't think I am depriving my child from anythinng since I give her alternative,. I give her choices of healthier snacks.

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